Three County officials cruise in uncontested races

Three Jasper County Elected Officials ran unopposed on the ballot in Tuesday nights election. County Recorder Denise Allan, Treasurer Doug Bishop and County Attorney Scott Nicholson will all retain their jobs at the Jasper County Courthouse.

According to unofficial results from the Jasper County Auditor's Office, Allan earned a total of 12,472 votes to be elected as the Jasper County Recorder.

This is Allan's second term as Recorder, and has worked in the department since 2011.

"I love this job. I came over here and was a deputy until I ran in 2014 and started as a recorder in 2015 for four years."

Since her first term, the recorder's office has evolved up to the public's standards in terms of accessibility and technology. Much of the information and book-keeping has moved to their computers, and images to the abstractors are now available to them electronically.

Online renewals are now offered for ATVs, as well as online voting and digitizing all of the real estate records.

"I'm very thankful that I've run unopposed," Allan said. I've accomplished a lot, and I'm pretty proud of that. I'm looking forward to the next four years and I'm thinking about what I'm going to do next."

Doug Bishop, treasurer

Bishop earned a total of 12,711 votes to be elected as the Jasper County Treasurer.

Bishop has been the treasurer for the past 13 years.

"I'm very thankful. I don't take this for granted that I am running unopposed. I count my blessings every day that I work here."

The treasurer is responsible for helping out with three departments, including the motor vehicle department, tax department and the drivers' license department.

Bishop is finishing up his third full term. In all the terms Bishop has run in, he has never had opposition.

Bishop was originally hired into the motor vehicle department, where he spent six months employed. Then, the previous treasurer retired and the Jasper County Board of Supervisors appointed Bishop to fill out her term.

"It's a great place to work. I have incredible coworkers," Bishop said. "Everybody is very diligent in the work we do, and we conduct our business in a very cost-efficient and time-efficient manner."

Scott Nicholson, county attorney

Nicholson earned a total of 11,864 votes and was elected to his first full term as Jasper County Attorney Tuesday night.

"Going from assistant county attorney to county attorney, the roles change quite a bit," Nicholson said. "That's been a transition that's been kind of ongoing."

Nicholson was appointed to the position in July after the Jasper County Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 to appoint Nicholson.

Nicholson replaced former Jasper County Attorney Mike Jacobsen, who was appointed by Gov. Kim Reynolds to be a district court judge in Iowa's Judicial District 5A in June.

"I work with a great group of people. I am very fortunate in that aspect," Nicholson said. "I learned a lot from Mike."

Contact Orrin Shawl at 641-792-3121 or at oshawl@newtondailynews.com